Lenovo Yoga Book i9 Review

Since its launch, the Lenovo Yoga Guide i9 has sparked the creativeness and need of numerous PC customers. It was the primary true OLED dual-screen laptop computer, which rivals have since copied. The laptop computer has a removable Bluetooth keyboard, a stylus pen, and a mouse. It additionally features a folio stand.

We’ve speculated about this laptop computer’s potential, however after utilizing it for some time, we will lastly draw real-world conclusions and share our findings and opinions. Are the twin screens value it? Discover out now.

Specs Highlights

• thirteenth Era Intel Core i7-1355U Processor
• Built-in Intel Iris Xe Graphics
• 16 GB LPDDR5X 6400MHz
• 512GB PCIe SSD Gen 4 (as much as 1TB)
• 80Wh battery capability
• 2 x 2W + 2 x 1W Bowers & Wilkins audio system
• WiFi 6E* 802.11AX (2 x 2)
• Beginning at 1.34kg / 2.95lbs
• Bluetooth keyboard and mouse included. Lenovo Digital Pen 3 stylus included.

Design

The Lenovo Yoga Guide 9i is outstanding for its sustainability and design ingenuity. It has a Carbon Impartial Certification, using eco-friendly supplies like 90% recycled plastic within the energy adapter case and 100% recycled aluminum within the prime cowl. The hanging Tidal Teal (metallic blue) colour provides vibrancy, departing from the standard gray or silver tones.

Like Lenovo’s Yoga 9i collection, the Yoga Guide 9i options curved edges for enhanced grip and luxury. Its groundbreaking dual-screen design, a world-first for 2-in-1 laptops, improves productiveness with multitasking capabilities. At 0.63 x 11.8 x 8 inches (15.95mm x 299.1mm x 203.9mm) and 2.95 lbs (not counting the included mouse and keyboard), it balances portability and performance.

As you’ll be able to think about, the twin screens facilitate seamless multitasking and different potentialities, however we’ll get to that later. The included system’s stand doubles as a canopy for the removable keyboard and stylus. It’s essential to notice that the kickstand gives stability solely on flat surfaces like desks or tables. You possibly can, in fact, use the pc as an everyday clamshell laptop computer in fact.

The inclusion of the Tidal Teal folio/stand enhances the system’s aesthetics whereas offering sensible help and safety.

Keyboard, Pen, Mouse and digital inputs

The Yoga Guide 9i’s Bluetooth keyboard gives customers a compact but useful typing expertise. Regardless of its compact dimension, the keyboard retains important Operate keys, guaranteeing customers can entry key options and instructions conveniently.

There’s an undersizing of the up and down arrow keys, a deliberate adjustment to accommodate the system’s general chassis. This design resolution maintains the system’s glossy profile whereas offering tactile suggestions and usefulness for directional inputs. Along with the keyboard, the Yoga Guide 9i features a compact mouse, akin to a journey mouse.

I discovered the bodily keyboard inferior to the built-in keyboards on high-end Yoga laptops. Lenovo wished to make this one as skinny as attainable, so it may not have the perfect key switches and tactile suggestions. If you happen to’re searching for a high-performance journey keyboard, have a look at the Logitech MX Mechanical Mini.

The Lenovo Digital Pen 3 included with the Yoga Guide 9i affords customers a cushty and responsive stylus expertise. It really works on each screens and is great for taking notes or fundamental sketching. You may want one thing else for skilled functions, but it surely’s not apparent if fancier Lenovo pens are appropriate with these screens.

Each Pen and Mouse require AAA and AA batteries, respectively, and aren’t rechargeable. The Keyboard has a USB-C connector for charging.

A digital keyboard and digital trackpad can be found when not utilizing the bodily keyboard. Every can occupy as much as half of the underside display screen, whereas content material is offered on the highest display screen. That’s far more display screen area than you’ll get on even the most important pill. The digital keyboard expertise was advantageous, however the trackpad doesn’t really feel nearly as good and correct because the bodily one. As an alternative of the trackpad, I choose utilizing the twin touch-screens every time attainable.

Lenovo has customized software program known as Yoga Guide 9 Consumer Heart to tweak numerous consumer expertise settings, from Window administration and dual-screen gaming to digital keyboard settings. It could actually assist make the laptop computer yours.

Ports

The pc boasts three USB Sort-C Thunderbolt 4 connectors, a flexible characteristic providing high-speed knowledge switch, extensions, and charging capabilities. All three ports help charging, guaranteeing handy energy entry wherever you go. One Thunderbolt 4 connector is positioned on the left edge, whereas the remaining two are positioned on the appropriate, offering flexibility for peripheral connections.

Notably absent are conventional USB-A ports and a headphone jack. Fortuitously, the 65W AC energy provide connects to USB-C, streamlining energy administration and decreasing muddle. Relying in your wants, you may take into account a USB-C HUB with further ports similar to USB-A, HDMI, and extra. They’re moderately cheap.

Sound high quality

The Lenovo Yoga Guide 9i integrates Dolby Atmos expertise with Bowers & Wilkins audio system, providing a stellar audio expertise. Its 360-degree rotating sound bar delivers immersive sound high quality. The system impresses with better-than-average bass and clear sounds on different frequencies.

The Dolby Entry software program provides versatility with music, motion pictures, video games, dynamics, and voice presets, together with an equalizer for personalised changes. With its loud, bass-heavy audio output, the Yoga Guide 9i guarantees a terrific leisure expertise, making it a best choice for customers who prioritize superior sound efficiency of their multimedia units. The sound bar is positioned proper in entrance of the consumer, the absolute best location to maximise the obtainable sound power.

Shows

This pc stands out for its glorious efficiency and visible expertise. That includes two similar 13.3-inch OLED touchscreens with a decision of 2.8K (2880 x 1800), customers can count on beautiful readability and element of their content material.

With a brightness of 400 Nits, the shows guarantee vivid and vibrant colours, even in well-lit environments. The 16:10 facet ratio affords a wider viewing space, ultimate for productiveness and multimedia consumption. Furthermore, the show covers 100% of the DCI-P3 colour gamut, producing correct and lifelike colour for professional-grade content material creation and multimedia modifying.

The inclusion of Dolby Imaginative and prescient HDR additional enhances the visible expertise by delivering richer distinction and deeper blacks.

The one factor we might instantly ask Lenovo to “enhance” right here is to construct a 16″ and even 18″ model of this laptop computer to extend the show space additional, which is the first worth of the revolutionary laptop computer.

The opposite factor Lenovo ought to take into account is video enter by way of USB or mini-HDMI. This laptop computer may very well be a standalone dual-display for one more pc, console, and so forth. It would lose a few of its computing worth because it ages, however the show’s lifespan might be 4X longer than its computing one.

Twin-Show Consumer Expertise

The distinctive twin show setup can be utilized in some ways, some apparent and a few… “inventive. ” Lenovo has performed a terrific job pitching what it thinks you are able to do with it, and I’ve embedded a video under. Right here, I’ll concentrate on use instances that resonate with me: productiveness and Leisure.

We will in all probability all agree that having a 100% further show floor is an efficient factor, and we already know it is going to make everybody extra productive. Much less Window and Activity switching, info obtainable at a look, and so forth. Superb. Signal me up.

I additionally typically do mild work, similar to catching up with emails or shopping for info whereas having YouTube, music, or a TV present enjoying on the opposite display screen.

Lastly, taking written notes with the Stylus throughout on-line assembly calls has by no means been simpler and extra snug. I usually do this on an iPad mini 6, however the 13.3 display screen(s) is so much higher due to the digital paper dimension.

Usually, I take into account this laptop computer finest utilized in a set location, similar to your resort room, cafe, and so forth, throughout your travels. Its compact dimension and lightweight weight make it simple to move even with an exterior mouse and keyboard. If it’s good to use the laptop computer for 10 minutes right here and there, you may need to have a look at the ThinkPad X1 nano gen2 (which is phenomenal) or a Lenovo Android tablet.

Listed here are extra use instances as Lenovo envisions them. See for those who join with a few of them:

Webcam

This 5MP webcam has handy options and high-quality efficiency within the laptop computer market. It may be turned OFF utilizing the bodily shutter button for added privateness, guaranteeing the webcam received’t by chance activate.

In portrait mode, the webcam is completely positioned in entrance of the consumer’s face: the absolute best angle. Its microphone delivers clear audio, complementing its good video capabilities. Unsurprisingly, a bigger standalone microphone would ship greater recording efficiency if it’s good to seem on podcasts.

With a video decision of as much as 1440p and 30 frames per second, it ensures moderately sharp and easy video even in reasonably lit environments. The built-in Home windows Hey facial recognition help allows seamless biometric login, including a layer of comfort and safety for customers. Sadly, there is no such thing as a fingerprint reader.

System Efficiency

Geared up with an Intel Core i7-1355U (1.70 GHz), 16GB of RAM, and a 512GB SSD, this pc can deal with workplace productiveness and multimedia duties with ease and quietly. Conceptually, it may be a very good net improvement system due to the big show floor. Nevertheless, for those who rely closely on Docker containers, you may want a system with extra RAM.

The U-series Intel core processors are designed for energy effectivity reasonably than efficiency. With two shows utilizing a major quantity of energy, one thing needed to give, and general, it’s a very good tradeoff between rising usability and acceptable efficiency.

The identical factor is true for storage efficiency. It’s nice for the use instances we suggest (productiveness, leisure) with this laptop computer, however within the grand scheme of issues, benchmarks similar to 3DMark Storage Benchmark classify this pc’s storage efficiency as barely under common.

Geekbench 5: 1743 (Single). 7202 (Multi), 18751 (OpenCL)
Geekbench 6: 2457 (Single), 8171 (Multi), 14454 (OpenCL)
3DMark TimeSpy: 1679

Battery Life

The 80Wh battery capability is comparatively massive for a sub 3 Lbs laptop computer, and with it, this laptop computer can final ~9 hours in a normal benchmark similar to PCMark 10 trendy workplace.

Clearly, having two screens is just not a bonus concerning battery life benchmarking, particularly if mentioned screens have a 2.8K decision. Whereas you will discover laptops that rating greater (14+ hrs) in that exact benchmark, it’s apparent that absolute battery life isn’t a precedence for potential patrons who’re doubtless to make use of this pc on a desk.

Nevertheless, if you wish to apply it to the go (in-flight, and so forth.), you continue to have an honest battery life, because of the low-power CPU alternative.

Conclusion

The Lenovo Yoga Guide i9 satisfies a particular want: maximizing the obtainable show space to extend consumer productiveness. Numerous research have confirmed that having extra displays results in drastic productiveness features, and we all know this very properly since we journey with a ThinkVision M14 / M14D or ThinkVision M15.

This Yoga Guide i9 makes lugging a conveyable show a factor of the previous, or it might take our current setup to the following stage by working alongside one among these cellular shows. This is determined by how a lot gear you need to carry. Moreover, its 360-degree hinge permits extra use instances, making it a really versatile pc.

This dual-display emphasis has a price: that is not an affordable pc or one that gives glorious computing worth (efficiency per greenback spent). If that’s what you need, there are higher choices elsewhere, with Lenovo or in any other case. However for those who really feel cramped inside your present laptop computer show, this pc might unlock your productiveness instantly.

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